Chapter 5

“Let me take her to the hospital first, and I’ll come back to explain everything. Please believe me just once.”

I wanted to refuse, but the seventeen-year-old Brandon was crying beside me.

He crouched on the ground and trembled, as if he were an abandoned puppy. He seemed pitiful and helpless.

He mumbled, “Rhea, I’m sorry. I’m sorry…”

He had done nothing wrong.

When he was seventeen, I was the only one for him. He had never betrayed our relationship, and he only loved me.

However, seventeen-year-old Brandon was barely the same person as twenty-seven-year-old Brandon.

I felt conflicted.

I lowered my eyes and agreed to his request under his fervent gaze.

Brandon was overjoyed. He stepped forward to hug me. “Wait for me.”

After that, he carried Anna in his arms and disappeared from my sight.

It was dawn, and Brandon still had not returned.

He begged me to trust him, but he also broke his own promise.

I quietly completed my discharge procedure.

Then, I took a taxi and went back to the place where Brandon and I buried a time capsule ten years ago.

It was under a phoenix tree.

Ten years ago, it was just a sapling.

After a decade, it had grown into a tall tree.

I took the small shovel I had brought with me and slowly but surely dug out the buried time capsule.

I opened the letter Brandon had written ten years ago.

[Hello, twenty-seven-year-old Brandon. I’m you when you were seventeen. I believe you’re having a happy life with Rhea, right?

[I kept thinking what type of life I should give Rhea. Should I give her a rich life or an ordinary and peaceful life?

[Regardless, her happiness is my priority.

[I hope you never upset Rhea.

[Don’t hurt her, and don’t lie to her ever.]

Seventeen-year-old Brandon was sobbing violently when he read the letter till the end.

He cried and said, “Rhea, don’t be sad. Please, don’t be unhappy.

“Just leave me, and don’t turn back.”

Both he and I had understood that twenty-seven-year-old Brandon had used up all three chances I had promised to his younger self.

I wiped his tears away. I was surprised that I was able to touch him.

It was as if I had broken the time continuum and gone back a decade.

“Don’t cry,” I whispered.

Then, I took off the sapphire wedding ring.

Brandon had given that ring to me when he proposed.

It said that sapphire represented an unbroken promise and loyalty.

He also said that I was the only person he would ever love.

I placed the ring, envelope, and the divorce agreement that I had prepared in advance into the time capsule.

Then, I saw the figure of Brandon’s seventeen-year-old self slowly disappear under the tree.

He was still sobbing, but he smiled at me.

He said, “Rhea, don’t forgive him.”

The memories of the past ten years had dissipated alongside his disappearing figure. The sun rose, and there was nothing left of him.

I took out my phone and sent Brandon a text.

[It’s over between us, Brandon.]

Then, the silent phone suddenly started to ring violently.